"When Apple provides developers with powerful development tools, developers produce reliable results, and Apple distributes them globally as a platform, establishing a 'virtuous cycle structure'."
Enwei Xie, Apple’s Head of Global Developer Relations, made these remarks at a press briefing held on the 29th at Assem Tower in Seoul Gangnam-gu. Developers also highlighted the advantage of being able to enter global markets without separate promotion or marketing efforts. However, they deferred answering questions regarding in-app payment issues.
On this day, Apple introduced its latest development tools: Intelligence Framework, Xcode 27, SwiftUI, and Liquid Glass. The Intelligence Framework is a new feature unveiled at WWDC26 last month. It allows integration of external AI models such as Claude and Gemini alongside Apple’s foundation models into personal workflows. It also enables running proprietary models directly on devices.
Xcode 27 is a real-time agent that assists with coding using the latest AI agents from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. SwiftUI automatically designs screens based on what developers want to build, enabling cross-platform development across iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. Apple’s visual design language introduced last year, Liquid Glass, has been improved to enhance readability and consistency.
Apple also operates educational programs. The Pohang Developer Academy, established in 2022, has graduated over 1,000 students. In the Swift Student Challenge held annually, 600 participants joined over six years and received 120Myeong I (수상). Xie stated, "More than 400 apps developed at the academy have been launched on the App Store," adding, "We will continue to strengthen our partnership with domestic developers."
At the event, development companies including Dev Sisters, MintRocket, SketchSoft, and BimoSoft presented case studies on their use of Apple’s development tools. MintRocket, developer of the indie game Dave the Diver with cumulative global sales exceeding 8 million copies, simultaneously released mobile, console, and PC versions in China last February, selling one million copies. MintRocket CEO Hwang Jae-ho stated, "Thanks to our game being featured in the App Store’s free trial section 'Try Before You Buy' or 'Featured,' we were able to attract attention without marketing."
BimoSoft, a video editing app developer, implemented a feature using Apple’s foundation models and Vision Framework that recommends suitable stickers from over 2,000 options and background music or sound effects from more than 3,000 tracks for the video being edited. The company also developed a background removal function using Apple’s Person Segmentation technology. Kim Kyung-wan, BimoSoft’s Product Manager, stated, "We primarily serve apps through the App Store, with 40% of revenue coming from Korea and 30% each from Japan and the United States."
Meanwhile, Apple avoided addressing the 'in-app payment' issue. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to finalize its decision next month on imposing a 20.5 billion won fine on Apple for violating the Prohibition of Forced In-App Payment Law in 2023. This marks the first concrete action taken after delays due to appeals and vacancies at the Korea Communications Commission.
The Prohibition of Forced In-App Payment Law was enacted to address concerns that Google and Apple, operating under a duopoly, charge excessively high fees of 30%. Although Apple subsequently allowed external payment systems, it faced criticism for imposing an additional fee of approximately 26%, effectively neutralizing the law. Considering the 2nd–3% processing fees charged by external payment gateways (PGs), this ultimately results in a fee level equivalent to the original charges.
in TECH
